Nov. 12, 2012

Kate O’Day / File / The Tennessean

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The Tennessean

Sherry Jones

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Saying the Department of Children’s Services is failing to meet its responsibilities to Tennessee’s children, state Rep. Sherry Jones is calling on the governor to remove its chief executive, Kate O’Day.

“She has had two years, and there is nothing getting better at the Department of Children’s Services,” Jones said. “As a matter of fact, it’s getting worse. And, after hearing (O’Day’s budget) presentation to the governor last week, I don’t hear her saying anything new that’s going to turn this agency around.

“It’s time for O’Day to resign or for the governor to step in and replace her.”

At the same time, a statewide group that represents private agencies doing business with DCS expressed frustration at not being able to meet personally with O’Day. The group issued a rare public request to meet with her.

O’Day has not met with the Tennessee Alliance for Children and Families in more than a year, according to Darci Halfman, the group’s executive director. It represents 39 agencies across the state that collectively provide services to half of the children in the care of DCS and rely on a close working relationship with the department to do the work.

Gov. Bill Haslam last week continued to defend O’Day, whom he said “wants to make it right.”

Haslam appointed O’Day shortly after taking office in late 2010. O’Day had previously led Child & Family Tennessee, a Knoxville nonprofit with longtime ties to the governor’s family. Haslam’s wife, Chrissy Haslam, has served on the agency’s board, and Haslam’s father, Jim Haslam II, was a financial contributor.

“I have known and worked around Kate for a long time,” the governor said. “I knew her when I was the mayor of Knoxville and she ran Child & Family. I’ve seen her here. She’s a person with great compassion for children. She’s smart and understands this business, and she wants to get it right. And doing what Kate does is difficult work. And it’s easy to sit outside and say ‘How did this happen?’ When I have somebody who really wants to make it right, is bright and looks around the country to find the best solutions and cares about kids, I think that’s the right formula.”

Numerous problems

Since becoming DCS commissioner, O’Day has run into a series of problems.

A computer system failed to make proper payments to foster parents and private agencies. Then DCS’ chief lawyer acknowledged the agency had been violating the law by not reporting child fatalities to lawmakers. A sheriff and child advocates in Dickson County claimed DCS wasn’t properly intervening in situations where children were experiencing severe abuse. A child abuse hotline was leaving as many as a quarter of all calls unanswered.

The Tennessean found DCS had seen a spike in assaults and police activities at its juvenile detention centers. And data problems have meant the agency can’t provide accurate information on children in its care to the public, to agencies or as part of a federal court order requiring the agency to take better care of foster children.

That record speaks for itself, said Jones, a Nashville Democrat.

Jones said she was deeply concerned about the increasing number of complaints coming to her legislative office about DCS.

People are concerned with the way DCS is caring for children in state custody, that the number of children in state custody has jumped in the past two years and that the data problems plaguing the department are still not fixed, Jones said.

Meeting wanted

On Thursday, 22 members of the Tennessee Alliance for Children and Families gathered around a computer screen to watch a webcast of O’Day’s budget presentation to the governor.

Halfman said the group has met with other department officials but hopes to hear directly from O’Day about her plans for working with those agencies in the future.

“These children are those that have the most complex and challenging emotional and psychological needs,” Halfman said in a written statement. “The TN Alliance will be requesting a meeting with Commissioner O’Day to discuss how the state’s providers can partner with her and the department. We are confident that she will embrace the invitation in light of her past experience as a private provider and given Governor Haslam’s and the commissioner’s commitment to public/private partnerships.”

DCS responded in an emailed statement that the department was working to schedule a meeting with O’Day and the alliance.

O’Day hired an executive director of network development to meet with private providers. The executive director and a DCS deputy commissioner meet with the alliance monthly, the statement said.

Arthur S. Masker, president/CEO of DCS contractor Holston United Methodist Home for Children Inc., said his agency has found O’Day approachable.

“I am aware there may be questions about the commissioner’s willingness to meet with various provider agency leaders to address concerns they may have,” Masker said in an emailed note. “I can only speak for myself and my agency’s experience. ... I have found Commissioner O’Day approachable any time we have had major concerns with DCS.”